Congress gives Fair Use legislation a hearing

A House subcommittee held hearings on the DMCRA. Will Congress give Fair Use a …

A US Congressional subcommittee held hearings today to discuss the Digital Media Consumers' Rights Act, or DMCRA, a rare bit of proconsumer legislation sponsored by Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA) and backed by House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX). The DMCRA (H.R. 1201) would amend the draconian DMCA to allow consumers to exercise their Fair Use rights by making copies of protected works for personal use, something currently prohibited under current law. It was originally introduced in 2003, and was reintroduced in March of this year.

Anti-DMCRA sentiment revolves around the bugaboo of piracy. Opponents of the legislation, including Rep. Mary Bono (R-CA) and Rep. Cliff Barton (R-FL), parroted the MPAA 's and RIAA's position that any failure to tighten up copyright laws—let alone relax the DMCA—will lead to large scale piracy (and drug trafficking, suicide bombings, sexual deviancy, wife beating, pope abuse, and not helping little old ladies cross the street).

Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-FL) expressed the view that letting consumers make copies for their own personal use would lead to widespread piracy. The problem is, we already have widespread piracy, especially in countries where intellectual property isn't regarded very highly to begin with. Such piracy is a problem despite the existence of the DMCA and despite the fact that it was illegal before the DMCA was ever enacted. Stearns would like to see a technological, rather than legislative, solution to the problem of consumers not being able to exercise their Fair Use rights. Apparently he forgot about that one time when Congress provided a legislative solution to a problem that didn't really exist.

Even more upset about the DMCRA was Rep. Mary Bono (R-CA):

"I hope we can slow down the movement of (the consumer) bill or stop it entirely," said Rep. Mary Bono, a California Republican who described herself as a "staunch opponent" of the bill.

Way to look out for the interests of your constituents, Congresswoman.

The idea of a grand, unified digital rights management system that all devices would be able to recognize and obey was floated again. That's a pipe dream of the content creation industry as well as a few lawmakers, but given both the number and immaturity of the different competing DRM formats along with the number of companies with an economic stake in the success of one (and failure of the others), that's unlikely to happen anytime soon.

In the meantime, the MPAA and RIAA want to nudge consumers towards their ideal marketplace: where we have to pay for the privilege of viewing or listening to content more than once. Consumers have let the industry know through decreased CD, DVD, and movie ticket sales that they are not finding the industry's value proposition very compelling. But instead of responding to market forces, the movie and music industries are continuing their attempts to legislate the market. If your elected representatives are not willing to support your Fair Use rights, don't support them next election.